1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connection structure between a seat and a body which is arranged to, in a vehicle etc., electrically connect various kinds of electrical equipments to be mounted on the seat and electric equipments on the body side while connecting connectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, it has been performed generally to mount electric equipments such as an electric moving mechanism etc. on the seat of an automobile. In the assembling procedure of such a kind of an automobile, various kinds of electric equipments are electrically connected to the body (vehicle body) side at the time of attaching the seat. To be more concrete, the seat is set on a sliding mechanism fixed to the body side. Thereafter, in the space between the seat and the body, the connector of a wire harness introduced to the rear surface of the seat and connected to the various kinds of electric equipments is connected to the connector of a wire harness disposed on the body side.
However, in recent years, since the ratio of the intelligence equipments mounted in an automobile has been increased, many electric equipments such as a seat heater, an air bag etc. as well as the electric moving mechanism are mounted on the seat. In such a kind of the seat, since the number of the poles of the connector is large, the working efficiency at the time of connecting the connectors is quite bad.
Thus, in order to overcome such a problem, the following connecting method is actually performed, for example. That is, the wire harness introduced from the electric equipments of the seat or the wire harness introduced from the body side is set to have a long length, and, for example, the seat is temporarily placed at the side portion of the sliding mechanism before attaching the seat. In this state, the wire harness on the seat side and the wire harness on the body side are mutually connected. Thereafter, the seat is lifted and set on the sliding mechanism.
In this case, since it is not necessary to connect the connectors in the narrow space between the seat and the body, the working efficiency at the time of connecting the connectors can be improved. However, since each of the wire harnesses is set to have the long length, there arises a fear that the wire harnesses are likely sandwiched between the seat and the sliding mechanism when attaching the seat. In this respect, at the time of lifting and setting the seat on the sliding mechanism after temporarily placing the seat having a heavy weight due to the many electric equipments mounted thereon at the side portion of the sliding mechanism and connecting the connectors, in order to remove such a fear, it is required to set the seat on the sliding mechanism while paying the attention about not to sandwich the wire harnesses etc. therebetween. Such a procedure is very troublesome and requires much labor, and so the working efficiency of the entire seat attaching procedure is not necessarily good.
The present invention has been made in order to obviate the aforesaid conventional problem, and an object of the invention is to provide an electric connection structure between a seat and a body which can improve the working efficiency of the attachment procedure of the seat on which electric equipments are mounted.
In order to obviate the aforesaid problem, the invention is arranged in a manner that in an electric connection structure between a seat and a body in which the seat is attached with respect to the body so as to be able to slide and a connector provided at the seat is connected with a connector provided at the body, the connectors are attached so as to oppose to each other in the sliding direction of the eat so that the connectors are connected to each other in accordance with the sliding shift of the seat, and a release means is provided which releases an attachment state of one of the connectors with respect to the seat or the body in response to connection of the connectors thereby to separate the one connector from the seat or the body.
According to this structure, when the seat is attached to the body and the seat is slid, both the connectors are automatically connected to each other, whereby the electric equipments mounted on the seat can be electrically connected to the wire harness etc. on the body side. Then, when both the connectors are connected, the attachment state of one of the connectors with respect to the seat or the body is released, whereby the one connector can be shifted freely and the connecting state of both the connectors is maintained.
A holder for holding the one connector so as to be able to engage with and separate from the one connector is provided as the release means in the seat or the body. The holder may be arranged in a manner that the holder holds the one connector so as not to separate therefrom until the connectors are connected and, when the connectors are connected, releases an engagement state with respect to the one connector to allow the one connector to separate from the holder. To be more concrete, the holder is provided with an engagement piece of a plate spring shape, and the holder and the one connector held by the holder may be configured in a manner that the engagement piece engages with a hook provided at the one connector thereby to hold the one connector by the holder so as not to separate therefrom, and when housings of the connectors are fitted, the engagement piece is pushed and bent by the housing of the partner-side connector to release an engagement state with respect to the hook so that the one connector is able to separate from the holder.
At least one of the connectors may be attached so as to be able to shift in a direction perpendicular to the sliding direction of the seat. In this case, even if there are errors at the attachment positions of both the connectors, since the one connector is allowed to shift relatively in the aforesaid direction. Thus, such errors can be absorbed and so both the connectors can be connected well without difficulty.
The invention is arranged in a manner that an electric connection method between a seat and a body in which the seat is attached with respect to the body so as to be able to slide and a connector provided at the seat is connected with a connector provided at the body, the connectors are attached to the body and the seat so as to oppose to each other in a sliding direction, respectively, then the seat is attached to the body, then the connectors are connected to each other by sliding the seat, and then an attachment state of one of the connectors with respect to the seat or the body is released.
According to this method, the electric equipments mounted on the seat can be electrically connected to the wire harness etc. on the body side quite easily by merely attaching the seat on the body and sliding the seat.